The Right Choice
by MsWendla
Summary: The Doctor is haunted by the memories of his passing life and, as he tries to come to terms with himself, the TARDIS decides to take him on a slightly dangerous journey back in time to prove him wrong. - Set Post-"Waters of Mars"


**Hey guys!  
This is my first attempt at a "Doctor Who" story and, as I usually don't manage to keep up with longer stories, I decided to write a One-Shot about my favorite Doctor and my favorite companion.**

**This one is set Post-"Waters of Mars" as the Tenth Doctor reflects on his life.**

**Disclaimer:** "Doctor Who" and it's trademarks and characters belong to the BBC.

* * *

**The Right Choice**  
_A "Doctor Who" One-Shot_

* * *

As he entered the TARDIS, the Doctor felt a lump at the back of his throat. Guilt washed over him as he realized what he had done.  
_  
Time Lord Victorious!_ He should have left as soon as he felt that unease that a fixed point in time always caused in him. If he had just left, as he should have done, then a woman would not have had to take her own life. He knew, that she would have died anyway, but that she would kill herself only to prove him wrong... Her death was now completely his fault.

He placed his hand on his hot forehead and did not dare to open his eyes. He knew that Ood Sigma had been there to remind him that his life was coming to a close. The Doctor also painfully realized that he probably owed his death to the universe, now more than ever.

He opened his eyes and sighed. His eyes wandered over the console room looking for something that would help him get through this, but all he saw was the emptiness. He was alone.

As he slowly approached the console, the Doctor started to wonder when things had started to go wrong. His thoughts were with his companions, all of which had now left him for one reason or another. Not all too long ago, he had said that they broke his heart, but maybe he deserved the pain.

Carefully, he let his hand wander over the switches, stroking his beautiful TARDIS, the only companion he had left now... Apart from the death and destruction that seemed to follow him wherever he went.  
The Doctor winced at the thought. Only a few months ago his TARDIS had been full of all the people, he'd come to care for during this life, and now he was so lonely...

Sarah Jane had been there, risking her own life in his name, even though she had a son to care for. The last time he had seen her before that, she had just told him how much hurt he had caused her, yet she still had faith in him...

Martha had been there as well. The girl who left, because he could not care for her the way she did for him. She had fallen for him, even though he never asked for it and most certainly did not deserve it.

The Doctor looked over to the other side of the TARDIS and remembered Captain Jack. He had been here too, doing all he could to assist him, even though he had left him behind after... After he became a fixed point in time.  
The Doctor tried to push aside the now painful memory and thought about the time they met after that, only to remember that he would have all too willingly left him behind then as well, when he first saw him. But one word about... A former companion and they were working together again, _for her_.

He quickly tried to think of something else, only to find himself thinking about Donna. It had been the last time he saw her, because he had to wipe his best friend's memories of him. He could think back to the great times they've had, but she couldn't any more, which made it hard for him to think about them too. Donna had become a most wonderful person in the short time he knew her and he had to make her forget all that to save her life. A life that had only been endangered, because she had been important and brave enough to save the universe.  
His thoughts instantly went back to when he first met her, only to run from the memory again, because it reminded him of someone else. It was also a terrible reminder of the fact that he was dangerous, if there was no one there to stop him from going to far - something that he had definitely done today.

Four other people had been on board that day. Four people, that he could never see again. Tears filled his eyes as he thought about them.  
Mickey and Jackie, who had been hurt so much, because he took her away with him... Another Doctor, half human, who of course had to commit genocide, forcing him to leave her behind again, telling himself that it was the best for her...

"And then there was you..." He whispered to no one, looking down onto the ground. The hurt look on her face, when she realized that he was going to leave her behind again, would probably haunt him far beyond this version of himself, but it was better than to forget her. When he had seen her again that night, he had hoped more than anything, that he could take her with him to the stars again, but it could not be.  
Sometimes the Doctor found himself going into the depths of the ship, where the TARDIS had kept her room safe and clean, since she had been gone, knowing that he would not want it to disappear. That night, after he had been left alone, he had sat down on her bed and wondered, if she would ever truly understand why he had to leave her again. He could still faintly smell her sweet scent there and every now and then he slipped into the room and pretended, for a few precious hours, that she was still there with him, at least in spirit.

He had always known that it was a terrible idea to start caring so much for one of his companions, especially for humans, because they were so fragile and would always leave him far too soon, but it had felt so different with her... He just couldn't stop himself. She had been so brave and caring and smart... 'And so very sweet and pretty,' said a voice in the back of his head, which made him smile through his tears. 'Yes, she was beautiful,' he admitted to himself.  
"But now you're gone forever, after I just..." His voice broke and tears started to run down his cheeks.

Suddenly the TARDIS kicked into action, ripping him from his thoughts. "What?", he shouted, wiping the tears from his eyes and running to one of the monitors. It was blank. "What? What?!"  
The Doctor started to try and get the ship back under his control, but nothing worked. "What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" He yelled in despair.  
And then it just stopped. The TARDIS shut herself down. The Doctor stopped moving for a second, worried about what might be wrong with her, when he suddenly heard something coming from the outside.  
"But that's impossible!" He said as his hands grew cold and shivers ran down his spine.

Slowly the Doctor turned around and walked towards the doors that separated him from the outside world. As he opened it, a sudden and almost painful feeling of unease hit him. He knew that it was wrong, but he still looked outside. He was standing in a small, dark storage. There was a door pretty close to where the TARDIS had landed. A bit of light came into the room from there, because the door appeared to be open just a crack. Part of him wanted to beg the TARDIS to take him away from here, but he was very curious about what he figured was outside that door. From what he remembered, he did not have much time left to make his decision and fairly quickly curiosity got the better of him. He walked towards the door and peaked out onto the street.

The Doctor's hearts almost stopped as he looked out at the scene in front of him. There was another TARDIS, his blue Police Public Call Box TARDIS, who's sound had beckoned him to come out. Standing in it's doorway, partially shielded from his view, was a man in a leather jacket with ridiculously large ears.  
He could hear him speak now, a voice that was as familiar to him as his own, because it had been his own. "It goes anywhere in the universe. Free of charge."  
"Don't. He's an alien. He's a thing." Came the reply from somewhere beyond his sight. The Doctor found himself pouting at this statement, he did not like to be called 'a thing'. Carefully, he started to shift a bit, making sure that he could not be seen from the outside of the storage, until somebody else came into view. He had never realized just how much Mickey had changed since he first saw him here. A slight feeling of guilt washed over him as he realized that it was probably, because he just never paid much attention to him.  
Suddenly he realized that his old self had started to talk again. "He's not invited." The other Doctor remarked, probably looking at Mickey, but when he continued, he was focusing on someone else. "What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere."  
"Is it always this dangerous?" He heard a very familiar and sweet voice reply, that instantly made both his hearts skip a beat. He craned his neck, desperately trying to see the speaker, and then there she was. She was still the seemingly unimportant and now jobless ex-shop-girl, that she was when he first met her.  
Part of him wanted to run out there and wrap her into his arms, but he knew that he couldn't. It was already dangerous enough with him being here.  
He then heard himself confirm to her, that it was indeed always this dangerous, to which she replied that she couldn't join him. "I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so..."  
He smiled at how she was trying to take care of everyone around her, until the other Doctor cut in. "Okay. See you around." He could hear the slight disappointment that had sneaked into his voice. He had only just met her, but he had already started to care for her.

Slowly, the TARDIS disappeared and cleared his view of the two people, that were staring at where it had just been standing. He saw her ushering Mickey away and started wondering, what would have become of her if he had not come back. He wondered if she would have preferred it, if someone had told her about all the pain and danger that she would have to face. Would she have joined him, even if she had known the heart break that it would bring for her? Sadness started to fill his hearts with the weight of these unanswerable questions.  
As the ship reappeared, he turned away and walked back towards his own. The last thing he heard, before the doors of his TARDIS closed behind him, were the eight words that would invite some of the brightest times of his life through these very doors, while they also brought the separation that would break his hearts all over again: "Did I mention it also travels in time?"

Worn out by all the worries and emotions this journey had just given him, the Doctor sank down onto the floor by the console. "Why did you bring me here?" He whispered into his hands, fully aware that the TARDIS would still be able to hear him. "Why?"

Suddenly he could feel the TARDIS move again, only this time he did not even try to stop her. He just leaned back and took a deep breath, trying to regain his strength, but it sounded more like a sob than anything else. He felt so broken, alone and helpless like never before.

The Doctor barely even realized that the TARDIS had stopped, partly because she had somehow put her engines on silent, but forced himself up anyway, knowing that she was trying to help. Reluctantly he opened door and immediately stumbled back in as he almost ran into a Dalek. He grabbed a hold of the railing, his senses kicking back into gear. He was again overwhelmed with an even stronger feeling of uneasiness, than the last time, as he realized that he was right inside Satellite 5, only one Dalek away from his previous regeneration. It took him a second to realize that the TARDIS had channeled all her powers to the perception filters, so that he could be here now, but for the moment it did not matter as everyone was looking at the golden glow emerging from the TARDIS just opposite of him and the beautiful lady that was standing protectively over the other Doctor.  
"I am the Bad Wolf." She said with a voice, that didn't quite sound like her own, and with a sweeping gesture she continued. "I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here."  
These words had so much power in them, especially because it felt like she was looking right at him. But she couldn't be, could she? Yet, he could not deny the strength that this eye contact brought with it. He could feel her pain inside him as clearly as he could see it in the tears that were running down her pale cheeks. And still she had said that she would lead herself here, knowing that this pain was waiting for her.  
"Rose, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now." His own words brought him back to reality, as he heard himself trying to save her from herself. It was the first time in a while that he had really heard her name. He never said it, never dared to, because she was so much more than a name, but it was all he had left of her. "You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn."  
She seemed to pull her eyes away from him, turning to the other Doctor instead. "I want you safe. My Doctor. Protected from the false god."  
My Doctor. Those words meant so much to him, even though she wasn't looking at him anymore. It proved how much she had cared for him.  
She was talking to the Emperor now, but he barely heard the words she spoke. He was mesmerized by seeing the power and wisdom pooling in her eyes and streaming out into the world as she raised her hand to erase the Dalek that stood in front of him. He could see now, that her hand was shaking ever so slightly and he knew that very moment that it had all been true. She had always been the Bad Wolf and she still was now. There was no strange power possessing her, she was doing her best to control it herself.  
Suddenly her eyes locked with his again and her voice resonated in his head. "Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends."  
To the Doctor it sounded as though she was consoling him, so that he might come to terms with the fact that his song was ending. It was just like Ood Sigma had said: Every song must end, which did not mean that he had done something wrong, just that his time was coming to a close.

All around him Daleks were turning into golden dust, but he only had eyes for her. Even as his past self told her to let go, he barely heard it.  
"How can I let go of this? I bring life." She said. 'So human,' he thought. 'So very fragile and human.'  
"But this is wrong! You can't control life and death." The younger Doctor said, trying to get her to understand. By now he must have felt the unease of Jack becoming a fixed point, but he couldn't quite remember it that clearly. He just knew that on top of everything else, he could feel it now, but it was small and unimportant compared to being so close to interfering with his own timeline, that he didn't care.  
Her voice rang in his ears as she answered his previous regeneration. "But I can. The sun and the moon, the day and night. But why do they hurt?" There was a slight tremble in her voice at the last part, that made his hearts ache as she looked for help in the Doctor she had come to protect.  
"The power's going to kill you and it's my fault." The other one said to himself in a desperation similar to the one that he was going through. He would always have to worry about how much of the pain and hurt around him was actually his fault, wondering if there had been anything he could have done to prevent it.  
But her voice called him back from the world of his thoughts. "I can see everything. All that is, all that was," she said, before looking directly at him and adding: "All that ever could be."  
The Doctor almost blanked out at the revelation that these words brought to him. For one thing, it explained why she had recognized him, but more importantly, she had known what might be in store for her, how much pain might be to come, when she sent out the words to bring herself here. The choice had always been hers and now he understood that.  
The pain in her voice as she told the other Doctor, that her head was killing her, suddenly pulled him back to reality, just in time to hear another six words, that would change his life forever: "I think you need a Doctor."

He was so overwhelmed by the emotion that the memory of this moment brought back to him, that he almost did not realize that his TARDIS was singing. It was more of a humming, in fact, but the melody was that of an old Gallifreyan lullaby. Over by the other TARDIS, the beautiful and brilliant earth-girl fainted into his old arms.

The Doctor realized two things in this one moment, before he retreated back into his TARDIS, leaving her and the other Doctor behind: One was that, at least in that moment, the girl had had a telepathic connection to his ship, that had been strong enough in these past minutes to extend to his future TARDIS, making her able to sense it's presence, and the other one was that he had always been here. This was always meant to happen. In his head, he could hear her words from so long ago, as he closed the TARDIS doors behind him: "It's like there was this singing..." She had said. He smiled to himself, joining in on the song that still resonated through his ship.

As he finally took control over his TARDIS again, the Doctor looked back to the doors for just a moment. There was something that he had wanted to say for so long, words that now hung in the air, waiting to be spoken after all this time. "Thank you for everything," he said, taking a deep breath before letting the name, so long unspoken, fall from his lips. "Rose Tyler. My Rose... I miss you. I..." He stopped again, smiling to himself, before flicking a switch and taking his ship back to it's old course. He felt that those words were better left unspoken, but now he also knew one thing for sure: Rose Tyler had always been the right choice.

* * *

**What did you think?**

Well... I do hope you liked it. Would be nice of you to drop of a Review :)


End file.
